Ana Dyreson

Biography

Dr. Dyreson leads the Great Lakes Energy Group, where she uses energy analysis and grid-scale modeling to study the performance of renewable technologies and the operation of future electric power systems, with a focus on the impacts of climate change on those systems in the U.S. Great Lakes region. Her research links power plant-level thermodynamic models, climate models, hydrology models, and electricity grid operation models to understand how weather and climate change impact future power systems, both as individual components (i.e. snow shedding off of solar panels) and as a whole (balancing hourly grid operations during a heat wave). Dr. Dyreson is passionate about teaching and improving the diversity of Mechanical Engineering as a discipline. Dr. Dyreson has a background in solar energy (PhD Mechanical Engineering, 2018, University of Wisconsin–Madison and MS Mechanical Engineering, 2014, Northern Arizona University) and electricity grid modeling (Post-doctoral researcher 2018-2020, Grid Systems, National Renewable Energy Laboratory). Dr. Dyreson holds a BS in Engineering Mechanics from University of Wisconsin–Madison as a registered Professional Engineer (Wisconsin).